Proverbs Chapter 1
After a year of reading our Bible from coast to coast, we are now going to focus in on the “Book of Wisdom”. Also known as the “book of Proverbs”, that has 31 chapters in it. Our scheduled reading will coincide with the date of the calendar. In other words on day 7 of the month, we will read chapter 7. If we do what we are supposed to we will have read the book 12 times this year. That is why we are calling it the “Year of Wisdom”
My goal is to simply blog about what God has illuminated to me in my read and to give you some things to think about.
Chapter 1 starts by letting us know that this book was written to give us wisdom. (Pro 1:2-3) To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom… In the world we live in, people are flocking to gain knowledge, and to get more information. We have schooling and training for all kinds of fields, along with the access to all kinds of information via the internet. I have often said that I can get knowledge and information in a matter of seconds, compared to the Pastors before me, that would have taken them mouths or even years to obtain. In fact we are living in an “information overload” society. People are being bombarded by information via the internet radio and Tv, like never before. But in all of this I am reminded what Paul said to Timothy about the last days, when he described the dangerous times. (2Ti 3:7) Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The difference between the knowledge and wisdom comes down to the absence of God in your learning. Many people are trying to gain wisdom and knowledge without which is futile. We know that knowledge and wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. (Pro 1:7) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Pro 9:10) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
But there is another element to factor into the book of Wisdom, and that all of the wisdom, truth, and knowledge that we will learn will be centered on the person of God and who he is in our life.
Here is one example of that element…
(Pro 30:8-9) Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Solomon’s prayer is to have neither have riches or poverty. But is reasoning behind the prayer is his relationship with God. Riches are risky because the ultimate issue is God. And poverty is risky because the ultimate issue is God. The book of Proverbs—the most practical, down-to-earth book in the Bible—is written for God’s sake. That we might not deny God in our prosperity and that we might not profane God in the hour of need.